Kuwait's civil aviation authority Sunday denied that it had embarked on a huge project to expand the emirate's only international airport, as contractors had announced.

An official of the general management of the aviation authority played down the importance of the work, started in July, saying it covered only "the construction of a carpark, restaurants, shops and airline offices," the official KUNA news agency reported.

Earlier Sunday, the managing director of Kuwait United Construction Management, Hussein al-Sayegh, told AFP that the project was worth 39 million dollars and would double the airport's capacity to six million passengers a year.

In March, the airport authorities ordered an 11.6-million-dollar state-of-the-art radar system to upgrade air traffic safety. It will serve Kuwait for the next 20 years. – (AFP)